Penace [J.T]

Chapter 3 - Project Starfire

Sam heads home, the smile not leaving her face. Despite her thing for running, Sam has been doing better. She got better about it before Jason died. And she's choosing tonight, to not run from it. A part of her thought maybe she would because Jason deserves better. But her heart beats to the sound of his name. And there is nothing she'll ever be able to do about it. He has ruined her for anyone else and she can't even be mad because she only ever wants him anyway. Even if that means friends. So, instead of running and punishing herself tonight, Sam lets the smile plaster itself over her face and she lets her heart beat wildly while her stomach spins with butterflies.

Molly's attention is pulled to the door as Sam leans against it, closing it.

"Hey." Moly chimes. "How'd it go?" She asks, seeing the lazy smile across Sam's face, gathering hope for her friends.

"Good." Sam pushes off the door before she kicks off her shoes. "Tim suspects nothing. I'm sure he will at some point and we're gonna start tomorrow." Sam explains, noticing the laptop open in front of Molly but seeing Goodreads open instead of anything of importance, immediately telling Sam Molly's been waiting for her.

"Oh, we're?" Molly beams with a teasing grin. "So you guys talked?" Molly's eyes track Sam as she walks over to the sink.

"Yes." Sam answers and the smile doesn't budge. "We train Tim tomorrow." Sam states casually as she grabs a small bag of Cheetos from the cabinet beside the sink.

Molly eyes Sam as she jumps onto the counter, sitting to face Molly before opening her bag of Cheetos. She offers no other explanation. No part of Molly should even be surprised because of course, Sam isn't going to give her any detail unless she asks specific questions.

"You haven't spoken to him in a month and a half. You've been asking about him at least every other day. And that's it?"

Sam sways her feet, not quite letting her heels touch the cabinet below her as she shrugs. "It's kind of weird. I don't know." Sam shakes her head before eating a Cheeto. "It was really nice to see him though." Her voice is soft as she diverts her eyes to the bag in her hands, a tender smile on her lips.

Molly's chest warms with Sam's response. It's not that she's been miserable or even all too unhappy over the last month. It's just that it's very clear something is missing. It's clear that it's been hard for Sam and some of that is her own doing to herself. Tonight, Sam seems calm, not as on edge as she usually is. Before tonight, it was as if Sam was just anticipating something horrible to happen at any second but now she's sitting peacefully on the counter, her face clear of any worry lines and her brows aren't tugged together in thought. It's a bit of a relief from where Molly is sitting.

"Are you done punishing yourself?" Molly asks.

Sam snaps her attention back to Molly before she scoffs. "What?"

"You're punishing yourself for what happened." Molly states simply. Sam won't explain hardly anything about her own blame. Molly isn't sure if it's just the death of Jason or if it's the whole fallout after, maybe both. But, Molly does know Sam and she knows Sam's been punishing herself, regardless on if she'll ever talk about it. "Are you done? Now that you got to talk to him. I told you, he's doing okay."

"You always said you're worried." Sam points a Cheeto at Molly, intentionally avoiding the question.

"There will never be a point in time I'm not worried about him. He's Jason. Red Hood, Robin, just Jason. He's always up to something." Molly states with a soft laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, he is." Sam lets out a sigh. "I just...I really didn't think he wanted to talk." Sam shrugs her shoulders. "I didn't want to intrude on his space and ruin something for him, ya know? I mean...he died and he was really getting help and trying to get better, I didn't wanna call and ruin that for him." Sam shakes her head as she chews the inside of her cheek.